akabir bhai...okay, I think you didn't get my point. I don't know how much formal education you had in semiotic analysis and media analysis, but if you dig deep into these media outlets, you'll find how they try to portray.

I have zero doubts that you tried to portray it as good news, and yes, we all want to take it as good news. But I can guarantee you that if there was a thread in this news site about this topic, you'ld hear people saying like "oh, he's just a brave chap, unlike other Muslims".

I DO think sending it to your boss was right, coz showing him that there can be even one courageous Muslim is a lot. Specially for someone who's a blind Bush follower. Actually, the only benefit of having this news is the SOME people will take it as a positive sign.

I think you're taking it a bit personally though. This is indeed something to be proud of. But it's certainly something media will play its game with. It's nothing about you or me...it's the media I'm talking about

__________________
cricket is a PROCESS, not an EVENT or two. -- Sohel_NR
Fans need to stop DUI (Dreaming Under Influence)!

err... Imran... you're quoting the National Post and thats why I'm not surprised at their bias. There are enough of their paper boxes around toronto spraypainted "Fascist Post". Personally I find them to be really right wing and having a very Euro/North America centric, conservative and Pro-Israel cultural bias.

I would like to see what the Toronto Star has written in their op-eds.

The missing British Girl in Portugal, Madeline will be found before Christmas
according to a secret service guy, he believes he knows where she is, and thier
suspects will be caught, by the way did you guys know anything bout this...
well i think the guy is talkin rubbish, i'll tell you guys if they have found her, impossible i think, missing since May!
Story: http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/...297006,00.html

DEARBORN, Mich. - Dewnya Bakri loves her faith — and the feeling of sinking a three-pointer.

For much of her life, the 20-year-old Muslim has found a way to balance practicing Islam and playing basketball, including wearing a head scarf and long pants on the hardcourt, even if it's meant taunts as she blazed trails on her middle school, high school and college teams.

Now a college senior at University of Michigan-Dearborn preparing for law school, she spends free time coaching Muslim girls and sharing what she experienced in Dearborn, home of at least 40 mosques, to help give them the confidence to follow in her footsteps.

As more covered Muslim girls take up competitive sports, Bakri and others say it's time to get beyond merely allowing the hijab — the traditional Muslim head scarf worn for modesty — and help those wearing them feel welcome.

"It's not like accommodating for one person anymore, it's a group," Bakri says.

Experts and advocates say the number of Muslim girls wearing the hijab on the court, track or field is rising because girls are growing more comfortable pursuing mainstream activities while maintaining religious traditions.

"They don't see the barriers," said Edina Lekovic, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council. "They take it for granted they can play in competitive sports ... and work out the clothing issues at the same time."

Even so, Bakri and current players at her former school, Fordson High, players say they've heard trash-talk that goes beyond the usual on-court chatter — calling them terrorists, telling them to go back to their own country.

Bakri said some coaches and referees have questioned whether she could play in a scarf and sweat pants, relenting only when her coach produced a letter from the Michigan High School Athletic Association allowing the uniform modification.

More recently, she said referees wouldn't let her play in one out-of-state college tournament. The coach told her later that it was because of her uniform modification.

That was reminiscent of a case in February when an 11-year-old Muslim girl was pulled off the field in a soccer tournament in Quebec because she refused to remove her head scarf. The Quebec Soccer Federation backed the decision, saying rules forbid wearing anything that could cause harm during a game.

In the U.S., the National Federation of State High School Associations' rules say state associations may allow a player to participate while wearing a head covering for religious reasons as long as it isn't dangerous to another player and unlikely to come off during play. The rule-making federation also allows pants, shorts or skirts.

School districts in Michigan must ask state high school athletic officials for permission to modify uniform requirements.

They always grant the district's requests, said Mark Shooshanian, Fordson High School's athletic director, but he'd like to see it become enshrined in the rules.

"The hardest part for me is within our league there are 27 teams and still some of the coaches question the uniform," said Shooshanian, who has been sending the requests for 15 years. "Why do I have to keep doing it?"

State athletic association spokesman John Johnson said the system "almost rubber stamps" requests, but requiring the case-by-case letter provides a safeguard against misunderstandings.

At Bakri's middle school, Lowrey Middle School, she was the first athlete of the year to wear the scarf and earned letters in basketball, volleyball, track and swimming.

Swimming required the most creativity. She couldn't wear a swimsuit in front of men, so she worked out a deal with her coach and athletic director to practice daily with the team but not compete in meets. The coach timed her during practice and awarded her the letter based on performance.

Now, Lowrey students hug and thank Bakri when she visits.

"It made me feel so good about what I'm doing," said Bakri, who coaches summer leagues and teaches physical education part-time at a private school. "I never really realized how hard it was, especially at the middle school level. I figured I'm going to play basketball. ... I never thought people might have a problem with it."

Her 17-year-old sister, Hyatt Bakri, is a starting shooting guard at Fordson High, and wears pants and long sleeves on the court.

"Some schools are used to seeing girls in the hijab, but other schools find it different, odd," Hyatt Bakri said during a break from a recent practice. "After Sept. 11, they feel like we're a threat to them even though we didn't have anything to do with it. So they look at us differently."

Teammate Fatima Kobeissi, a senior reserve guard, said she's worn the hijab since she was nine.

"Nothing in our religion says we can't go out and do other things just like everybody else. It's just while we're doing it, we have to be more modest maybe than everybody else," she said.

Dewnya Bakri lets young players know there are ways to deal with the taunts that don't mean getting rolled over, like the time when opposing players insulted her scarf-wearing teammate during a high school tournament.

"I looked at (one of them) and said 'This is for you.' I shot six threes in that game. I was guarding her and she scored zero.

Getty Images, the world’s biggest supplier of pictures and video to media and advertising companies, has put itself on the auction block and could fetch more than $1.5 billion, people briefed on the situation said Sunday.

The firm hired Goldman Sachs to advise it on a potential sale, these people said. The company has attracted interest from several buyers, mostly private equity firms, including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Bain Capital and others.

Final bids are due by the end of the month, but people briefed on the auction cautioned that it was unclear which firms would submit a final bid. A sale is not assured, because the tightening of the high-yield debt markets has cut off private equity firms from the lifeblood of their business, making it harder to finance deals.

Hundreds of law students in Bihar went on the rampage on Saturday after being denied the use of unfair means in their law examination

"After authorities deployed at the examination center, including police officials, did not allow the students to carry books, copies and mobile phones inside the exam hall, the students turned violent, shouted slogans and boycotted the exam," a senior official of the Education Department said on Saturday.

In Sasaram, for the second consecutive day, students boycotted the law exam. Some of the students fired in the air to create panic among the college staff.

Later, they set the office and other classrooms in the college on fire, damaged furniture and threatened the college staff of dire consequence. Sources said that out of 344 students, only one girl appeared in the examination on Saturday.

In Gaya, students demanded the right to use unfair means in the examination on Saturday but were not allowed to do so by the local administration.

Turkmenistan's president has announced incentives to reward women who give birth to eight or more children, according to state media. Those who qualify for Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov's reward will receive a one-off payment of $250 (£125). They will also get lifetime benefits such as free dental care, utilities and public transport. There was a large increase in child mortality under the autocratic former President Saparmurat Niyazov. Under Mr Niyazov's rule, the health system declined dramatically. Free health care was abolished, all hospitals outside the capital were closed, and thousands of health care personnel were sacked - 15,000 of them in just one day. President Niyazov did, however, declare 2003 the Year of the Mother - dedicating it to his own late mother, after whom he also renamed the month of April.The idea of trying to stimulate a baby boom by rewarding mothers is not unprecedented; after World War II the Soviet Union awarded medals to mothers of five or more children. The scheme approved by President Berdymukhamedov follows the announcement that the government will give $10 (£5) to every woman in the country, to mark International Women's Day on 8 March.

The mayor of a village in south west France has banned residents from dying.

And Gerard Lalanne has threatened "severe" punishment for anyone who disobeys.

The mayor issued the unusual edict when it became clear that there was no room left in the overcrowded village graveyard in Sarpourenx in the Bordeaux region.

In an ordinance posted in the council offices, Mayor Lalanne told the 260 residents that "all persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish".

It added: "Offenders will be severely punished."

However, the nature of the punishment - apparently a fate worse than death - was not specified.

The mayor said he was forced to take drastic action after an administrative court in the nearby town of Pau ruled in January that the acquisition of adjoining private land to extend the cemetery would not be justified.

Mayor Lalanne, who celebrated his 70th birthday on Wednesday and is standing for election for a seventh term in this month's local elections, said he was sorry that there had not been a positive outcome to the dilemma.

May 27, 2008 — A newly recognized species of ant is shorting out computers and other electronic gear in Texas. No, seriously. This is really happening.

The ants jumped off a cargo ship in the port of Houston and have been wreaking havoc ever since. Why they are attracted to electronics is unclear, but they're sabotaging fire alarms, gas meters, and sewage pumps in a five-county area of Texas. Local officials are looking on nervously as they close in on the NASA space center and local airports. Could your home theater system be next?
They're formally known as "paratrenicha species near pubens" but have acquired the nickname of "crazy Rasberry ants," after local exterminator Tom Rasberry, who is fighting the good fight. They're called crazy because of their erratic marching formations—they don't advance in straight lines like conventional ants. Their movement has been likened to race cars and lava flows. In addition to attacking electronics, they also suck juice from plants, feed on beneficial insects such as ladybugs, also feed on nastier insects such as fire ants, eat grouse hatchlings, and bite humans. Over-the-counter ant killers don't faze them. Each colony has not one queen, but many, making extermination harder. And they've been known to identify insecticide-treated areas and use their own dead to march over them.

__________________
cricket is a PROCESS, not an EVENT or two. -- Sohel_NR
Fans need to stop DUI (Dreaming Under Influence)!